Spring semester offers bright outlook at THS

Troup High School had a tremendous fall semester thanks to the faculty, students and staff who worked diligently to make sure it was a success. The spring semester is also off to a very positive start.

We started the semester with our second round of benchmark testing, which our students and staff worked very hard on. We took all our students on a school-wide reward trip for their success on the TAKS test from last year. We went to the movies in Tyler and attended a catered lunch provided by Sadler's at First Baptist Church in Troup. The students and staff really enjoyed themselves and the reward was well deserved for all of their hard work and effort.

Our students are involved in a variety of activities in the spring including UIL athletics, UIL academics, and several extracurricular clubs and events. We are finishing up the both girls' and boys' basketball seasons. We have several FFA students showing animals or projects at various local shows, with some of our students participating in the large shows in Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston.

Principal Derek Driver and senior Valerie York show off the hooded sweatshirts York is selling as part of her campaign for queen of the Cherokee County Livestock Show.

We have a senior in FFA, Valerie York, who is running for queen of the Cherokee County Livestock Show, March 27-29. The contestant who raises the most money for the scholarship fund at Cherokee County Livestock show will be crowned the queen. The high school has hosted a baked potato supper in support of her attempt, and if you are interested in donating you can purchase Troup flipflops or a hooded Troup sweat shirt at the high school.

We started softball practice Jan. 22 and baseball began practicing Jan. 25. Our other spring sports such as golf, tennis and track will begin in the next few weeks. Troup High School's band, One Act Play troupe, and our UIL academic team are also preparing for their spring contests. The Troup High School Student Council is also planning a dance for Saturday, Feb. 16. We have an outstanding student body at Troup High School, where our students are involved in a great variety of activities.

On Monday, Jan. 28, Troup High School hosted its first annual College Day. We had representatives from colleges and universities across the state, trade schools and fine art institutes, and also representatives from several branches of our armed forces. All the seniors and juniors from Troup High School visited the various college day booths.

Troup also invited other local schools including Arp, Overton, New Summerfield, Leverett's Chapel, West Rusk, and Carlisle. In all, we had almost 500 students attend and visit the different schools. We also provided a presentation to our ninth and 10th grade students at Troup High School about how they should be preparing for college at this time in their high school career.

In conjunction with our College Day, we hosted a Career Day in all our classes at Troup High School. We had a tremendous group of guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds who were gracious to give of their time and talk to our students about their careers. All the students at Troup were able to hear from five different speakers. We were able to provide a catered lunch for all of our guests which made for a great day.

As mentioned in a previous article, Troup High School started a new class this year call Teen Leadership. A couple of areas it focused on for our seniors were what they planned to do after high school and community service. To date, that class has been able to visit the following colleges and universities: Texas A&M, Sam Houston State University, Stephen F. Austin University, Panola Junior College, Texas State Technical College, Kilgore College, Dallas Art Institute and Lon Morris College.

The class has had guest speakers from the following colleges and universities: Texas State Technical College, Tyler Junior College, University of Texas at Tyler, health career speaker, University of Texas, Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University, Stephen F. Austin University, Mississippi State University andEast Texas Baptist University

The class has also participated in some community service opportunities by attending weekly Rotary meetings, volunteering at the Salvation Army in Tyler and visiting Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

Again, the fall semester at Troup High School was outstanding. We are looking for an even better spring semester. Our success and good fortune is the direct result of the hard work our students, faculty and staff put in on a daily basis.

If you have questions about the previously mentioned activities, visit our website at www.troupisd.org to find schedules, or you can call the high school at 903-842-3065.